Take one of the premises of collective memory offered by Zelizer and show how it works in digital/networked media.
Within Zelizer’s article, he stated that, “Forgetting reflects a choice to put aside, for whatever reason, what no longer matters. American journalists conveniently “forgot” about the problems that accompanied the coverage of Harvey Oswald’s murder, because they needed to do so in order to construct that coverage as a high point of television journalism. (Zelizer, 1992)”
In order to provide some background information on the situation, Lee Harvey Oswald was the accused killer of John F. Kennedy. After the shooting, he had been taken under police custody with inadequate security forces present. While under police custody, Jack Ruby had made his way through the crowd and managed to fatally injure Oswald by shooting him in the abdomen. This series of events was inaccurately portrayed in the media due to the competition amongst broadcasters to release their information first.
An archive from the National Archives (231) states that, "Consistent with its policy of allowing news representatives to remain within the working quarters of the Police and Courts Building, the police department made every effort to keep the press fully informed about the progress of the investigation. As a result, from Friday afternoon until after the killing of Oswald on Sunday, the press was able to publicize virtually all of the information about the case which had been gathered until that time. In the process, a great deal of misinformation was disseminated to a worldwide audience."
l believe that this often happens within the media’s portrayal of major events today as well. Mostly, rather than portraying accurate information about events, the media purposely emphasizes points within an event that will capture the public’s attention. A modern example of the media using this premise of collective memory would be during the Boston Bombing. In an article by USA today, it stated that during the Boston Bombing news coverage, "The New York Post, worshipped by some for its brilliant tabloid headlines but rarely regarded as a paragon of ethical journalism, has done a particularly wretched job covering the Boston massacre. It reported Monday that 12 people had died in the Boston bombing, four times as many as the actual total. Today, its front page features a photo of two men who might — might — have had something to do with the heinous crime."
This is just one of many countless examples of how the media conveniently "forgets" about problems in their coverage in order to achieve high publicity as Zelizer had stated in his article. Although accurate information is highly regarded and searched for, due to living in a technological world where information can travel worldwide by the click of a button, news broadcasters have felt pressure in competing to receive the most attention. Unfortunately, however, if they portray inaccurate information the broadcasting network instead suffers consequences and receives negative attention. Thus, up until this point of time this form of collective memory tends to have a negative impact on both digital and networked media.
Sources:
"Lee Harvey Oswald: Guilty or Not Guilty?" Lee Harvey Oswald: Guilty or Not Guilty? : The JFK Assassination. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
"Chapter 5." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
Rieder, Rem. "On Boston Bombing, Media Are Wrong." USA Today. Gannett, 19 Apr. 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
"HINTERGRUND: Auf Den Spuren Von Lee Harvey Oswald." Yahoo Nachrichten Deutschland. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lee_Harvey_Oswald_arrest_card_1963.jpg
Ross, Brian, Megan Chuchmach, Randy Kreider, and Rym Momtaz. "Times Square Was Next Stop for Accused Bombers, Mayor Says." ABC News. ABC News Network, 25 Apr. 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
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